Tuesday, July 08, 2008

Taste of India recently opened next to Eastern Lights and I've been meaning to check it out. Tonight I went there with a comparatively large group of friends and I believe we all enjoyed our meal quite a bit. It's important to note that they do not have a liquor license, nor do they have any intentions of obtaining one. That's a show stopper for a lot of people, for dinner, at least.

Papadums and chutneys were placed on our table as we arrived. It has a nice atmosphere that's somewhat dark in color. Several of us ordered mango lassis, for $1.75 each. Despite my love for Stoneyfield's yogurt smoothies, I still haven't developed an appreciation for lassi yet, but I was almost tempted to get some mango juice.

I ordered what was effectively a vegetarian sampler platter for $12.95. I think it was called Palace of Bhorian Bhojan, but I would not swear to it and I welcome corrections. It was really good and while nothing was spicy at all, it had a lot of flavor. I got the impression that the selection changes, but tonight the platter came with a potato samosa, three vegetarian "main course" selections, a small container of pickled vegetables, raita (cucumber yogurt sauce) and dessert, which was gulab jamun. We also tried some of the appetizers, such as pakoras, and mango chutney, which were all very good.

5 comments:

I enjoyed my Taste of India meal (and it seems that the staff really appreciated having us there -- they were so attentive and friendly and interested in how we were doing).

I'm no expert on Indian food, but I'd say that the things I tried were of average yumminess for the Indian restaurants I've visited around here. The dahl soup was very yummy, and the samosa was quite nice. The bit of whatever I stole from my next-seat diner was also good. The roti was fine. The mango lassi was fine. The bits of fried chicken on the sampler plate were screamingly dry. Ack. And the bowl of raitha was... completely different from what I expected . This thing was SWEET, with a few other flavors thrown in. I'm used to a simple cucumber/yogurt raitha, but my quick look on the internet tells me that there are many variations.

Same goes for lassi.

For my mango yogurt drinks, I like to use more yogurt and less mango, and to zing things up I generally use a bit of ginger water, no salt. It's also nice to do with fizzy water.

I would go back to Taste of India, just to see how else things turn out. The prices are definitely reasonable.

Lenore, I think the dish was called "Palace Bhojan." I have no idea what that means.

I'm no foodie, so I don't really have any criticisms of my meal at Taste of India ;-) I thought it was all very yummy. I want more ... so it's a good thing I couldn't finish all mine and had to bring it home!

@marsosudiro Thanks for your analysis. I definitely agree that the fried chicken was dry. I don't recall that my raita was sweet, though, so that's surprising. I didn't eat a lot of it, because I had enough food for about three people, but I'll have to pay close attention when I eat my leftovers.

@lisa b - Thanks for the spelling correction! :)

I'm hoping to make it over to Sitar sometime soon, because I haven't been in over two years and I'd like to compare all the Durham Indian restaurants. OK, really, I just want an excuse to eat more Indian food.

Thanks for the review, Lenore. I've just heard about "Taste of India" from a friend recently and thought about giving it a try. I love everything at the Sitar India palace, but I definitely will check out the new kid on the block after reading your blog.